Arthur Wellesley Society & Wimbledon International Music Festival

This event was curated by Professor Adam Ockelford of the University of Roehampton.

The talks gave a fascinating overview of how these conditions affect musicians. It was especially interesting to hear that 1 in 400 people with autism have perfect pitch, the ability to identify a musical note by name purely by hearing it, compared to 1 in 10,000 in the general population; furthermore, very few blind musicians use brail music, preferring to learn repertoire by ear.

Each section of the day culminated with a performance element. Autistic music savant, Derek Paravicini, performed a wide range of music on piano, including an example of his ability to improvise on a melody after only having hard it once. Percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie demonstrated how she can feel the vibrations of music and can use these to help her play sensitively in any performing circumstance.  It was particularly inspiring to hear her articulate the differences between playing the notes on the page, playing as a musician and playing as a sound creator where every note is give a unique inflection by the performer. She included the unusual instrument, the waterphone which is metallic percussion instrument filled with water and can be played with a variety of implements including a double bass bow. Extremely talented blind musicians who are in receipt of sponsorship from the Amber Trust closed the day with impressive performances of Chopin’s second Ballad, Rachmaninov’s Prelude in C# and Brahms Cello Sonata No.1.